Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents conducts 56th AGM

Dignitaries at the head table stand for National Anthem

Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera

CASA Chairperson Shehara De Silva

CASA Secretary General Ralph Anandappa

Winner of Young Leader Award for Sales Excellence Kirk Baldsing

Winner of Young Leader Award for Support Service Excellence Kanchana Bopitiya

Winner of Young Leader Award for Operational Excellence Prasanna Rathnayake

CASA Vice Chairman Shano Sabar presents token of appreciation to Minister Kanchana Wijesekara

CASA Chairperson Shehara De Silva presents token of appreciation to Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva

CASA Treasurer Janesh Ratnadasa presents a token of appreciation to K.D.S. Ruwanchandra

CASA Chairperson Shehara De Silva presents token of appreciation SLPA Managing Director Upul Jayathissa

Worldlink Shipping Owner and Founder Vera Wickramasinghe hands over the Scholarship to Chairman CASA Shehara De Silva

Prof. Lalith Edirisinghe receiving a token of appreciation

Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA), the voice of the shipping industry and the apex body that represents shipping in Sri Lanka, tracing its roots back to 1944, held its 56th Annual General Meeting on 9 September at the Balmoral hall of The Kingsbury Hotel amidst a large and representative gathering of over 500 participants.

Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, and Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, Ports, Shipping and Aviation Ministry Secretary K.D.S. Ruwanchandra and Sri Lanka Ports Authority Managing Director Upul Jayatissa attended as Guests of Honour.

Mclarens Holdings Group Managing Director Shehara De Silva was re-elected for the second consecutive year as the first woman chairperson of CASA for the period 2022/2023 whilst Hayleys Advantis Ltd. Deputy Managing Director Shano Sabar and Asha Shipping Ltd. Executive Vice President Janesh Ratnadasa were elected Vice Chairman and Treasurer respectively.

The Executive Committee elected for the period 2022/2023 comprises Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd., Ceyline Agencies Ltd., Hemas Maritime Ltd., Inchcape Mackinnon Mackenzie Ltd., Malship (Ceylon) Ltd., Marine International Agencies Ltd., Penguin Shipping Enterprises Ltd., Setmil United Cargo Ltd. and Simatech Marine Lanka Ltd.

Young Leader Awards

In addition to the usual proceedings of the AGM a new feature was the CASA Young Leader Awards. The CASA Young Leader Awards 2022 was planned, in association with YoungShip, to recognise the high achieving youth within the shipping fraternity who have gone above and beyond their usual realm of duties to achieve excellence. The Young Leader Awards are presented under 3 categories, namely: Young Leader in Sales Excellence, Young Leader in Support Service Excellence, and Young Leader in Operational Excellence.

Kirk Baldsing from Hapag Lloyd Lanka emerged as the winner of the Young Leader in Sales Excellence award while Kanchana Bopitiya from Hapag Lloyd Lanka emerged as the winner of the Young Leader in Support Service Excellence award and finally the Young Leader in Operational Excellence was won by Prasanna Rathnayake from GAC Sri Lanka.

The eminent panel of judges who oversaw a rigorous selection process consisted of Prof. Indika Sigera, Dr. Sulochana Segera, Gayani De Alwis, H.D.A.S. Premachandra and Prof. Lalith Edirisinghe.

Worldlink Shipping donation

Worldlink Shipping, celebrating their 25th anniversary and in appreciation of the support given to them by their customers and the industry stakeholders during these 25 years of their remarkable journey, decided to offer, in celebration of this milestone, scholarships to seven deserving individuals from CASA Member Companies to follow the foundation diploma of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers UK through the Sri Lanka Branch.

Worldlink Shipping Colombo Ltd. Founder and Owner Vera Wickramasinghe handed over the cheque for the scholarships to CASA Chairperson Shehara De Silva.

Token of appreciation to Professor Lalith Edirisinghe.

The ‘Bridge’ magazine has made tremendous progress since launching and is now looked forward to in shipping and trade circles while renowned personalities have been featured in interviews. The value of a magazine depends on the articles it carries and Professor Lalith Edirisinghe and his colleagues, who have been contributing consistently to the bridge magazine with very informative articles for each and every edition since its inception, was recognised by CASA receiving a plaque from CASA Chairperson Shehara de Silva.

Sponsors

Sponsors of the evening were GAC Sri Lanka and Hayleys Advantis as the Platinum Sponsors, Worldlink Shipping and Unifeeder Group as the Gold Sponsors, Inchcape Mackinon Mackenzie, Aitken Spence Maritime and World Subsea as Silver sponsors along with SAGT, CICT, HIPG and Centrum Marine Consultancy and all the other sponsors without whom this event wouldn’t have been possible.

Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents

The Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents, well-known by the acronym CASA, is the voice of the shipping industry of Sri Lanka and has served the industry with unwavering focus and dedication since the association began as the Ceylon Shipping Committee in 1944.

Its members represent all international shipping lines who call Sri Lankan ports due to its very strategic location in close proximity to the main international shipping lanes.

Members of CASA are involved in vessel agency, husbanding services and act as manning/crewing agents for leading ship owners and managers. CASA members also provide various other services to ship owners/managers in the ports of Sri Lanka and at off port locations.

CASA through its sub committees mentioned below have regular dialogue with stakeholders, government institutions, regulatory bodies and other government and private sector agencies, CASA seeks to effect an interchange of ideas and information, represent and advocate the views of the association in all official fora and shape the future of the industry by investing in education and training for its members and working with maritime training academies to train seafarers. They are

Container Operations – Mainline and Feeder Operators; BreakBulk, Bulk, Tankers, Casual Callers and Bunkering; Documentation and Information Technology; Education and Training; Public relations and Publicity; Maritime Security Services; Finance and Tariff; Membership Activities and Crew Management, Manning and Training.

Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe